Saturday, June 18th 2022
The business meeting was held at Signature Lanes, Elkhart Ind. The meeting started at 3 PM and the meeting was opened in due form by President K Holmes.
President K Holmes gave the opening (and closing) prayer.
President K Holmes declared the business session open.
- Roll call of Officers: Completed by Secretary Jeff Schrock.
- Reading of Membership Applications: President K Holmes introduced Mark Kauffman to the BoD. Most knew him already. President K Holmes reported Mark wanted to become a member of FSO. H/R Dir J Schrock nominated him for the General Board member position. Mark accepted the nomination and was subsequently voted into office.
- Reading of the minutes: Secretary J Schrock read (emailed) the minutes from the last meeting, and asked if there were any corrections or amendments. Seeing none Vol Jenn Schlorke made a motion to accept the minutes as read. Treasurer A O’Toole seconded the motion and the motion passed.
- Treasurers Report: H/R Dir J Schrock made a motion to suspend the reading of the income/expenses. E Dir S Holmes seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
- Bills: E Dir S Holmes made a motion to suspend the reading of the bills. Media Coord L Zeugner seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
Unfinished Business: 1) President K Holmes brought up the fundraising dinner. The main purpose of this meeting was an AAR (After Action Review/Report).
The band. “High Gravity” was sorely missed. The band “Just Cause”, while doing a decent job; should not be asked to come back next year. A description of being a “garage band” was made, and accurate. They did play “oldies but goodies”, but no real dance music. The sound engineer was asked four (4) times by a BoD member to turn the volume down – and he never did. When approaching a band member – regarding the volume; he added none of them like the sound engineer either, and it was still not turned down. There was no drum shield, to muffle that drum and it overwhelmed the rest of the band – most likely the reason the volume was not turned down by the sound engineer. Three (3) tables left the event after the drawings were over, and the band was left to entertain who was left. Initially, there were 4-band members and 1-sound guy; for $600. Just prior to the event, that dropped down to 3-band members and 1-sound guy (no break in price). Part of the payment/deal was the band ate for free, w/an invited guest/spouse. There were seven (7) people who ate at the band table. The band said they’d put out a tip jar, and give the proceeds to FSO. They were asked NOT to do this, but did it anyway. They did donate $50 from that tip jar to FSO.
Sam Brown did a great job, and everybody loved him. He should be asked to return next year!
The date of our event was discussed at length. That weekend was also graduation for all the local high schools and their graduation parties. We should look into pushing our dinner back a week.
LCI. Lippert volunteers did a great job, thanks to Ana Schue for lining them up for us. It did free BoD (Board of Directors) up for their intended purpose – meeting n greeting. NOTE: 4-5 LCI volunteers did not show up, Ana was going to notify their GM’s about this.
Servers/Volunteers. To designate the servers/volunteers, we should either give them an FSO shirt noting they are “staff” or ask them to wear their red t-shirts for LCI.
Empty tables were discussed. The total number of people attending was almost what it was last year, however, a couple tables were left empty. Some people/companies didn’t show up for the tables they purchased. It was noted that this year we didn’t send out a reminder a week or so early. This might have allowed some to forget the event. Also of note, ask on the registration card of they intend to attend the event – or just wish to donate by buying a table. The notation could be made that if they just want to donate a table, advising us could allow veterans to take that table in their absence.
Left over food. A lengthy discussion ensued as to how to avoid this again. Without knowing exactly how many people will be there, it was left with the idea of better to have left over for the BoD to take home; rather than run out.
Sponsorship letters. We should send them out in October as that’s when most companies are doing their planning, funds as well as their events. If they’re on a physical or calendar year, this would be the time frame to send these letters out. Also, we were asked why a particular person was not asked to be a sponsor. While it was noted on the application, we should consider specifically asking for sponsorship from regular donors.
Merch table. Where it was placed in the back of the room (N-W corner) v. in the hallway beside ticket sales was discussed. Not much foot traffic at the merch table this year. It was also thought to rotate BoD members in and out every hour. We also need to get NEW merch, selling the same things as previous years – everybody already has that stuff.
Tony Allberry – food/volunteers. Tony pretty much handled the volunteers for serving and bussing. He did a great job and there wasn’t much for Adam to do w/them. We should let Tony work them alone next year. 2) The food itself was great – pork chops. The discussion ensued as to one (1) meat this year, v. two (2) meats in previous years.
Gun ticket sales. Two (2) people handling this, one (1) for the money only, and one (1) for tickets only sounded like the best way to go (after the discussion). Maybe using a money bag or utility belt (like a construction nail belt) would help separate the money, making it easier to make change.
Opening video(s). These went great and everybody liked them.
P.A. When the batteries in the mic died, so did interest in the crowd. We need a better/louder P.A. system to hold the focus of the crowd. Especially when the Special Guest Speaker addresses the crowd. Casey Hendrickson did a fantastic job, but could barely be heard – and he had a great message!
Bidding on auction items. It was brought up that we could make the bidding process more fun for participants, by adding a branch of service or company to the mix. When bidding, the winning bid could be “set aside” for the Air Force, or Army, or whatever. This would include various companies. At the end of the evening, an announcement would be made that this company out bid all others; adding a sense of accomplishment for that company/branch of service. This could also include purchases at the merch table.
Round v Rectangular tables. We had no control over this, a funeral dinner was set up in the canteen and they used all the round tables. We had counted/planned on using them, and couldn’t at the last minute. We did make due w/the rectangular tables. Next year, we should go in the evening before and secure the round tables so they are set aside for us.
Venue. A lengthy discussion ensued as to the venue for next year, and years to come. The Goshen VFW is free, but has a limited space for the increased number of patrons. It’s hard to be free… Moving the venue to other places, which have a kitchen, bar, band area, dance floor, large parking lot was discussed. It was decided to look into 5-6 places and discuss this at a planning meeting later.
Expenses. They were gone over (see Treasurer’s Report on this topic for specific details). Scott (a patron and friend of FSO) said that FSO shouldn’t have any expenses. He said he would back our expenses next year. As a friend, the BoD hates to ask him to do this though.
Open too late. It was thought that the event lasted too long. Happy Hour starting at 5. The opening events at 6, and dinner being served 6:20 or so. Then staying open until 10 PM. Part of this was thought to be the band – as most of the patrons left after the events were over and didn’t want to stay for the band. When we had High Gravity, people stayed and danced the night away until well after closing time. 2) It was also thought that if we put salads out on the tables during the Social hour, people could eat something. 3) A discussion also ensued as to change “Happy Hour” to a “Social Hour”; also keeping it an hour or making it a half hour only.
Raffle Tickets. We should continue to sell raffle tickets during the Social Hour, this went very well. Two (2) weapons were raffled off as well as two (2) 50/50’s. 2) It was thought that we should announce the “last chance” or round of ticket sales (guns and 50/50). There may have been confusion as one (1) sale would end and another one (1) starting.
Sense of loss of control. When the band set up and then left, a sense of loss of control came across to the BoD. One (1) of the band members left to go back to Elkhart to mow his lawn. It was thought that once there, maybe we should ask them to stay in the local area.
Video. Buying a video camera with a good sound mic was discussed. This would enable FSO to take more video of our events, and put them on the “big screen” for our donors to see what all we do for our community. A Sony ADX was suggested, but would cost around $2,000. This was set aside for another meeting.
New Business: 1) President K Holmes asked the BoD to attend the next Get Wet for a Vet dinner. It will be at the South Bend Eagles, 6 August. 2) Media Coord L Zeugner asked about FSO taking over Youth Activity Day at the Goshen VFW. It would be a great help to the VFW, as the Aux doesn’t do it anymore. Volunteers are becoming harder to find. YAD consists of several things, the Goshen Police and Fire come out. Police will do several K-9 demo’s, the Honor Guard will perform a ceremonial flag folds, they will also fingerprint the kids. The Fire Dept will have a smoke house, a fire truck and ambulance for the kids to see and take photos with. There are blow-up bounce house and other games. Hot dogs and pop are a staple of the event too. This was set aside for a normal meeting, but was thought to be a great idea. 3) President K Holmes brought up the open V.P. job. Volunteer Fred Schlorke was brought up as possibly being nominated. After a discussion, H/R Dir J Schrock nominated F Schlorke as V.P. F Schlorke accepted the nomination, and was subsequently voted into office by the BoD.
Good of the Order: No Report(s)
Next Meeting: Saturday, 16 July, 4 PM, at Signature Lanes in Elkhart.
President K Holmes asked if there was any further business. Seeing none, H/R Dir J Schrock made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Treasurer A O’Toole seconded the motion. The motion passed.
President K Holmes gave the closing prayer and the meeting was adjourned.
J Schrock
Secretary
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